Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Scholastic Press (2015), Edition: Annotated, 40 pages
Description
In this version of "The blind men and the elephant", based on a poem by Rūmī, Persian villagers try to figure out what strange animal in a dark barn has arrived from India.
Local notes
Publishers Weekly, 06/14/2015
Inspired by a Rumi poem based on the parable of “The Blind Men and the Elephant,” Javaherbin offers a lively take on a classic story about the folly of a limited perspective. When a merchant named Ahmad brings a “mysterious creature” (an elephant) home and stores the animal in his barn, the villagers sneak in and attempt to identify it. One man, after touching the elephant’s legs, declares that the animal is “round and tall, like a tree trunk!” Another, feeling its tail, reports that it is “skinny and hairy, like a paintbrush!” Taking cues from Persian miniatures, Yelchin creates a rowdy, bickering cast of villagers in turbans and vividly patterned garments, successfully playing up the story’s comedic clashes.
Inspired by a Rumi poem based on the parable of “The Blind Men and the Elephant,” Javaherbin offers a lively take on a classic story about the folly of a limited perspective. When a merchant named Ahmad brings a “mysterious creature” (an elephant) home and stores the animal in his barn, the villagers sneak in and attempt to identify it. One man, after touching the elephant’s legs, declares that the animal is “round and tall, like a tree trunk!” Another, feeling its tail, reports that it is “skinny and hairy, like a paintbrush!” Taking cues from Persian miniatures, Yelchin creates a rowdy, bickering cast of villagers in turbans and vividly patterned garments, successfully playing up the story’s comedic clashes.
Awards
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — Primary — 2018)